if they don't turn the aircon on in this building soon we're all probably going to suffocate to unsightly deaths. my window's wide open but we can't raise the screen and in anycase i went out for a walk and there is no movement of air outside to begin with. this is worse than julys in singapore because at least at home there're land and sea breezes (a fact my pa never fails to mention when we go for evening walks). i was only out for 4 hours today, 3 of those spent working in the library, and yet when i came home i needed to fight off my shirt as if it was some kind of straitjacket. the heat i wouldn't mind so much, but the airlessness makes me think my lungs are bursting. ordinarily i drink tea at home but i needed something cold desperately and the only drinkable thing in the fridge belonging to me was a bottle of pilsner which was the last thing i wanted. i mustered enough loose change and trotted downstairs to the lounge to see what the vending machine had to offer and nearly everything was sold out but here i am with a can of cherry coke a cheerless reminder of why i don't like softdrinks. but it's cold, not to complain. i'm terrifically tired and hungry although it's very difficult to sleep when the bed is tossingly warm and even when you settle down occasionally you think you're entombed. i've put my hair up and pulled on a slip and i think i'm going to move back onto the sleeping bag tonight because it's much cooler. and rather gloomy about reading material for tonight - do i really want to read jakobson on aphasia? what the heck is aphasia anyway? (shut up, choonping, that wasn't a question) i think i'll get on with the tacitus and the whitman. do you have to be american and male to really understand whitman, do you suppose? tucker lectured on whitman yesterday, and the lecture heading was "jacksonian democracy", as opposed to, the jeffersonian republic of gentlemen? i wish i knew something about american history and culture and literature. i am an ignoramus.